The musical genre "shoegaze" first gained its moniker from a music journalist who had quipped that the musicians playing in this style could hardly be bothered to look up while performing because they were too busy looking down at their pedal boards.

The genre and the artists associated with it have gone through a couple decades of change, with a first wave initiating in the UK, and bouncing back across the pond to inspire new and different offshoots in the US. Today, it spans the globe as an established genre.

Amongst the hallmarks of the "shoegaze sound" are notable stylistic choices for how the music is made, both from a uniquely production-oriented and technological standpoint. Here, we are going to take a look at some of the most common and influential gear that has contributed to the sound we today know as "shoegaze."

Guitars

There is a dizzying amount of gear involved in any modern music creation, but given that shoegaze is typically based on a quite guitar-centric paradigm, let's start with a few of the most commonly used guitars.

Overall, Fender guitars seem to be the most favored in the genre, typically distorted, sometimes detuned, and often employing novel alternate tunings. Additionally, there is often a lot of vibrato manipulation: think distorted bends, reverberant howls, and unnatural-sounding pitch alterations. Of the Fender models used, the most common are the offset models: Jaguars, Jazzmasters, and Mustangs, with some folks using the odd Telecaster and Stratocaster. [Ed.: The use of Fender offsets is stylistically significant for a number of reasons, largely because of these instruments' unusual bridge and "tremolo" systems. The floating bridge/tremolo arm arrangement has a number of advantages: pitch can be bent lightly up or down, unlike other tremolo/vibrato systems that only allow for downward shifts with a typical setup. Additionally, this system results in a significant amount of "behind the bridge" exposed string, which can be plucked for ghostly, metallic, harmonically complex guitar tones favored by many musicians in the genre.]

This penchant for Fender also extends to the bassists of the genre, who frequently use the Jazz Bass. Of the Fender freaks, let’s look at who’s using what.

×

Bilinda Butcher of My Bloody Valentine plays a Fender Mustang, while bandmate Neil Halstead uses a Fender Telecaster. Mark Gardener of the band Ride uses a Japanese Fender Jaguar, and Emma Anderson of Lush uses both a Fender Strat and a Thinline Telecaster. Domenic Palermo of the band Nothing uses American HH Strats and Jazzmasters. The Fender Cyclone is used by DIIV guitarist Zachary Cole Smith. Fender Jazzmasters and Jaguars are also favored by Kevin Shields, Alex Gehring, and Elliot Frazier.

Another common choice in the Shoegaze realm is Gretsch Guitars. Rachel Goswell of Slowdive sometimes uses a Gretsch Electromatic Pro (with Bigsby Vibrato), while Andy Bell of Ride uses a Gretsch Tennessean. A lot of guitarists in this genre do favor the center-block Gretsch models because they have the hollow body sound, but also have a clearer treble range. The addition of the Bigsby Vibrato is common for this guitar because it allows for a lot of dramatic and dynamic use—creating a quite eloquent control of swells and the like, much as discussed in regards to the Fender vibrato system above. This has been instrumental in helping craft what Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine calls “glide guitar”.

Epiphone/Gibson guitars are also a favored choice amongst guitarists of this genre as well, with hollow-bodied models being prized for their resonant qualities. Neil Halstead of Slowdive uses an Epiphone Casino, while Andy Bell of Ride favors a Gibson Trini Lopez with a Bigsby in more recent years. The Epiphone ES-335 is quite common, along with a few similar models. The Gibson ES-335s and Epiphone Riveras are both favored by Miki Berenyi of Lush as 12-string models. The Epiphone Wilshire is another, used by DIIV guitarist Zachary Cole Smith. Also, many do favor the classic Gibson SG model because it is lightweight, has good sustain, and is just an all-around versatile instrument.

A few other notable brands and models of guitars and their champions are Charvel Surfacsters (Bilinda Butcher, MBV), 12-string Rickenbackers (Ride), DuoSonic and Hagstrom Impala (DIIV). The Rickenbacker 330 is also common.

Amps

While amps may be overlooked in favor of pedals, which we will get to soon enough, they’re still an important part of the sound. After all, they're arguably one of the most significant factors in defining a guitar's tone: they're the final point that the crafted sound is transmitted through.

Here again we see that Fender rules the roost, with their Combo Amps being used by the likes of Elliot Frazier of Ringo Deathstarr, while their silverface amps are favored by Anderson of Lush, who also uses them as part of a stereo rig with Fender Hot Rod combos. Palermo of Nothing uses a black panel Fender Pro Reverb (circa 1965), and many others also employ the Fender Twin Reverb.

Over the years, My Bloody Valentine have used a whole host of amps, including the Fender Showmans, but not limited to them. Some of their other notable amp choices have been Hiwatt DR103s, Marshall, and Vox AC30s.

×

Roland Jazz Chorus amps are another popular choice amongst the shoegaze genre, with the JC-120 being a classic choice (Neil Halstead of Slowdive), often in a stereo configuration. This particular solid-state amp is often favored due to its relatively clean representation of incoming sounds, allowing effect pedals/processors to do the bulk of the tone-shaping work.

Some other notable amp choices include Hiwatt heads into Marshall cabs (Andy Bell of Ride), Vox AC30 valve amps, and other solid-state Vox offerings. Lush have also been known to use Marshall half stacks, while Alex Gehring of Ringo Deathstarr has used Marshall Bluesbreakers, and also uses Hiwatt 200 and Ampeg amps.

Context & Structure

There are also a lot of other weird and wonderful components (before we get to pedals… I know… I know…) to consider in the crafting of the shoegaze sound. Producers and engineers will have also contributed to shaping some of the sound, via the gear and mixing methods applied. For instance, Alan Moulder mixed Nowhere by Ride, and is noted to have put microphones between two amps that were pointed at each other, and then is said to have fed each amp with a separate tremolo. These types of creative production techniques are a foundational part of the shoegaze sound palette.

Shoegaze is typically borne of layers of guitars, spacey and or crunchy effects, with the vocals less prioritized in the mix. Sometimes the sound is also characterized by layers of acoustic guitars (or 12-string guitars, as we have seen above), layered vocals, programmed drums, and sometimes samples. With the vocals more often de-prioritized in the mix, there is space for the guitars to occupy a larger part of the mix’s real estate.

For example, Slowdive tend toward more modulated sounds, with time-based effects instead of distorted ones. In some cases, manual analog flanging is used, like in the case of Ed Buller, when he worked with Slowdive. It is said that he employed reel-to-reel tape during recording and dubbing to create effects like delays and pitch bends.

Some important outboard gear in use for shoegaze music are the Roland GB-16 digirack processor (used by Ride), the Marshall JMP-1 MIDI controllable Rack Preamp, and the Alesis Midiverb (the latter both used by Elliot Frazier of Ringo Deathstarr). Finally, it would be a shame not to mention the Roland Juno-106 synthesizer, which has also made its way onto a fair amount of shoegaze music, notably utilized by Rachel Goswell of Slowdive.

Effects Pedals

Finally the pedals—as there would be no shoegaze with out them. There are a lot of discussions around which pedal you want to use, and in which order, and that is by and large up to individual taste and artistic expression. It is worth noting and keeping in mind, the types of processing being employed and what’s coming after what.

The families of effect processing can be conceptualized as affecting spectrum, time, and amplitude. Without going too deep, bear in mind what each of these categories encompasses: spectral effects deal with anything altering the frequency spectrum, such as an EQ or a filter; time-based effects encompass delays, reverbs, and modulation effects; and amplitude-based effects include compression, gating, and distortion effects like fuzz, overdrive, etc.

With all of this in mind, would you want to EQ your compressor? Not necessarily, no. But you more likely might want to EQ some of your fuzz tone, or you might want to put the reverb after what you’ve EQ'd. That said, there are no rules, so have at it!

Below we will take a look at some of the most sought-after and widely-used pedals and effect processors in the shoegaze genre and who’s using what.

×

Alesis have two fine offerings that are in frequently in use amongst some of the Shoegaze greats. Their quadraverb is notably used by Emma Anderson of Lush, especially during the '90s, while Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine uses their Midiverb II.

Many BOSS pedals have found excellent use in shoegaze music, including the PS-2 Digital Pitch Shifter / Delay, DD-3 Digital Delay, SD-1 Super Overdrive, HM-2 Heavy Metal, CE-2 Chorus, and others are commonly used. Their HM-2 is often used by My Bloody Valentine, while its been said that Andy Bell of Ride uses various digital delays from Boss. The DD-6 Digital Delay is said to be favored by Domenic Palermo of the band Nothing, with the Waza SD-1W Super Overdrive in use by Zachary Cole Smith of DIIV.

Famously, the peculiar and glitchy PS-2 Digital Pitch Shifter / Delay was used for textural effects on Slowdive's "Souvlaki Space Station," making it a sought-after tool to this day.

×

Digitech are another favored brand, with several notable artists/bands using their pedals. Their Whammy is used by Emma Anderson of Lush, while the PDS8000 Echo Plus is favored by Neil Halstead of Slowdive. Both the Hardwire RV-7 and the Polara are used by Palermo.

Earthquaker Devices have some great options for Shoegazers. Their Plumes Small Signal Shredder is a oft-favored overdrive pedal, and their Avalanche Run V2 is also said to be making the rounds on lots of pedal boards. Their Organizer digital octave pedal is favored by Smith of DIIV, along with the Gray Channel dynamic dirt doubler.

Electro Harmonix also has quite a selection in heavy use amongst the shoegaze camp, with their Big Muff Pi being one of the most commonly recommended and used pedals for the style, along with their Oceans 11, and various versions of the Small Clone chorus and Electric Mistress. The Holy Grail reverb is noted to be used by Andy Bell of Ride, and fellow Ride bandmate Gardener uses both the Memory Boy and their Small Clone. Their Freeze sampler/soundscape generator is said to be used by Elliot Frazier of Ringo Deathstarr.

Eventide and Fender both have some tried and true offerings, with Eventide’s Factor series being a common choice and their Space reverb being used by DIIV. Fender’s Mirror Image Delay is also a commonly favored choice for delay pedals in this arena.

The Dunlop Cry Baby wah is super common for shoegaze bands, and is notably used by Frazier of Ringo Deathstarr. The MXR Micro Amp is used by Andy Bell of Ride, while the Phase 100 is used by band mate Gardner. ProCo pedals are also practically ubiquitous for this style, and from them we see that various iterations of the Rat distortion are used by Ride, DIIV, Lush, and Nothing.

Another favored brand is Styrmon, with their Timeline and Deco both being in heavy rotation, and their Mobius pedal being in use by Emma Anderson of Lush. Univox have gained the hearts of a fair few shoegaze bands with their iconic Super Fuzz, which is often used by Elliot Frazier of Ringo Deathstarr. Finally Yamaha’s SPX90 multieffect processor is known to be favored by Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg! There’s a lot of gear to explore here, but don't be limited by what others have already explored. The next wave of any style usually has some mutations, and it's exciting to think of what the next wave of Shoegazy experiments will render.

[Ed.: If you're looking for a way to build out your own shoegaze-inspired setup, be sure to check out our article about Building a Pedalboard for Shoegaze!]